Welcome to our 2024 Sea Slug Census which will run from Thursday March 7th to Sunday March 17th, from Green Cape to Kiama

During March we encourage everyone to get down to the coast and hunt for sea slugs. It’s a great time of year when the waters are warm and the most Sea Slugs are to be seen (weather permitting). Any images and sightings you make will contribute to our efforts to record as much of our coastal biodiversity as we can.

There are many places you can hunt for sea slugs – in shallow estuaries, lagoons, rock pools and in the sea from very close to the surface down to many metres. The Sea Slug Census is for coastal walkers, snorkelers and divers and we want you to share all your sightings with us to help build our database.

On our Atlas of Life website in the Sea Slug Census section you can see the pictures of the species of Sea Slugs that we found last year. You can also look at all the sightings we have recorded so far on and where they were found. You can see all the Sea Slugs we have found in our region in our database - here is our Nudibranch page in iNaturalist to help you identify what you find. Register and add your sightings to iNaturalist, or send your images to us and we will add them for you.

You can help with the Sea Slug hunt. We hope you will explore the coast yourselves and below is a list of some good places to search, which we would like you to add to.

Here is the calendar with information on guided activities during along the coast in March. Watch out for details of different activities, details, what you need to know and how to book your places.

Contact us if you have any questions, need any help recording what you see or if you have any suggestions. Good hunting!

Libby Hepburn, 0458 798 990, libby@atlasoflife.org.au

They are all amazing, look at this beauty! recorded by Nick Shaw at Bermagui

Where to look

Possible locations and activities for your individual Sea Slug Census searches

Please let us know if you know of any other good sites for Sea Slugs that you have found

Sadly Tathra Wharf is still closed for renovations, so we won’t be able to search around there, but there are many other rockpools and snorkel places we can search.

South Coast Sea Slug Census – guided activities

All activities are free, some have limits on numbers so please contact the people listed.

*March 11th - An informal chat and Q and A with passionate nudibranch hunter and author of “Sea Slugs of Twofold Bay – Turemulerrer” Jenny Allitt. Stay afterwards to join Jenny, and Jayde from Dive Eden, for a rock pool ramble, or nudibranch snorkel at Cannery Beach. 

Free + optional $20 for your own copy of “Sea Slugs of Twofold Bay - Turemulerrer” (see below) + optional $30 for snorkel equipment hire 

 Bookings are not essential, but recommend emailing diveeden@gmail.com for snorkel equipment hire, or book online at www.diveeden.com.au 

 For the Blue Pool (Bermagui) March 16th, night snorkel, come at 7:15pm so we can organise while it’s still light. Please bring underwater torches if you can (available from BOSS Merimbula or online) and hot drinks as well as the usual gear. All children under 14 must be experienced snorkellers/swimmers and accompanied by an adult

For useful information see these pages from the Nature Coast Marine Group website: NCMG Snorkeling Guide and Snorkelling the Batemans Marine Park

If you are an estuary or rocky shore searcher, you will want to time your search around low tides to see the maximum. Here is a link to tide tables along our coast: Tide times South Coast: https://tides.willyweather.com.au/nsw/south-coast.html

Whatever you do, please take care, and observe all usual safety precautions and be aware of the tides and wave conditions if you are searching in rockpools or snorkelling or diving.

Photos from our iNaturalist database: Gem Doris Narooma, Feb 14 Percha https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/151606842,

Aplysia concave, April 21, Blue Pool, Amanda Johnston, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/73598578

Ragged seahare, Eden, Aug 23 Jenny Allitt, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/178336088

Forsskal’s Pleurobranch, Mar 23, Merimbula, Liz Allen, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/151099610

Dolabrifera brazieri, Tura Headland Mar 2012, Libby Hepburn, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/73270693